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Thursday, June 23, 2016

The Joys of Depression

It's been
pretty rough lately. This pregnancy is really hard on me. Mentally and
physically. I forgot how debilitating depression can be when you're not in
control of it. It takes so much work to control my mind. It takes more effort
than just living. I think that's why most people chose other ways to deal with
it, or not deal with it at all. Sometimes I describe it as a hole that I just
can't get out of. A deep dark hole. That's not really an exact parallel
comparison. Because I don't visualize an actual 'hole' per se, but it's more of
how I feel mentally. My mind is in a deep dark pit. And it can't see the light.
I know I’m down there, I know I'm struggling to find the light, but I just
can't find the steps to climb out. It's frustrating as hell. And confusing.

That's the
other, terrible part. I feel so confused. I feel like I don't know which way is
up or down or if I’m going left or right. I truly just don't know. Now, part of
that is pregnancy brain, it's a real thing! I swear! It freaking sucks the genius
right outta ya. But the other part is depression. I can get so mixed up on my
feelings and thoughts. I just don't know what do to about it or how to fix my
confused thoughts! The majority of the time I just ignore it. I just choose not
to acknowledge that I’m confused, so then I just end up putting it so far out
of my mind that I’m not even living in reality. It happened the other day, I
was so caught up on just trying to act normal, i.e. not confused, not
depressed, not hurting, that I completely blacked out my loved ones. Meaning, I
blacked out what their feelings on life and events are like. I just completely
ignored them & reality. I ignored what is meaningful to them. And in turn,
I hurt them very much. Which led to me actually 'deal' with my confusion and
depression. And by 'dealing with it', I mean it came out in a big, ugly,
battle where I ended up having a panic attack and major cry fest.

Letting it out
did help, but its not a remedy to my problems.

The only
silver lining in all this is I RECOGNIZE that I'm depressed. I KNOW I'm going
thru that, or that I'm in a struggle.

One of the
hardest parts of this disease is RECOGNITION. Depression acts like a drug, or a
drink, it masks what you really feel inside, and replaces it with the exact
opposite. It makes you wonder if you really ARE depressed or hurting or
struggling, and makes you believe that you're not depressed, that you feel
fine, things are good, and you can handle life. In other words, it's like you
being completely high or drunk and thinking that you can have one more hit
or one more drink and walk that straight line all while saying the alphabet
backwards (not that I’ve had to do that or anything….moving on). When in
actuality, you should have been 'done' about 3 hits or drinks ago, and you're
already a wobbly walker and your ‘words’ if that’s what you want to call them,
just tumble out in a big pile of gurgles and rambles, equivalent of a one year
old baby. Depression feeds on your 'normal' thoughts of 'I need help', 'there's
something not right', 'this isn't me', 'why am I acting/doing/feeling like
this'. It replaces those 'trigger' thoughts with things like, 'I'm good!', 'I
don't need help!', 'I'm completely fine!'.

So in the
past, I've gone around in a depressive haze thinking life is good, I'm grand,
I'm stable, and no one or nothing could change my mind. But NOPE. That's just
the depression talking. Life is not good, I am not grand, and I am extremely UNstable.
This time around, I RECOGNIZE that life sucks, I'm mentally in a shithole, and
that I need help. It's so hard to recognize that. So HARD! About as hard as
actually fixing yourself.

Let me introduce
you to the three parts of depression. Three different, and hard, struggles to
battling (and overcoming or winning) the war.

-Part 1 in the War on Depression is RECOGNITION
that you ARE depressed and not thinking clearly. Recognizing you actually HAVE
a mental illness. And your thoughts are truly not YOUR thoughts. Sometimes even
your actions are not truly your actions. It's
Depression's thoughts & actions. And it's a heavy battle. It's an
extremely difficult battle. And the majority never win.

-Part 2 is working though your
struggles and 'fixing' it. An equally hard and difficult battle as Part 1,
because most of the time you don't have the resources available to 'fix' it. You
can't see past the depressive haze to find the solutions. That's why it's so
important to rely on family, friends, and medical professionals to HELP you. Let
Them Help You! Getting help is hard. Asking for help is even harder. For
myself, it makes me feel like a failure. Even after all these years in
counseling and working on improving myself, I still have a hard time reaching
out for help. Mostly, it’s because of my personality type, and only partly because I'm stubborn as hell.

-Part 3, another uphill-Mt-Everest-high
battle, is after you’ve conquered Parts 1 and 2, then you have to MAINTAIN.
You have to struggle, every day, every minute, every second to maintain your
‘normal’ thoughts and not let Depression move back in. Yes, there’s medication
to help. Yes, there are professionals and loved ones to help. But it’s truly up
to you, and the strength you have in yourself. Which at this point, you’ve used
almost every freaking ounce of strength you have just battling (and winning)
Parts 1 and 2. There’s like seriously about a mosquito fart amount of strength
left in your mind to deal with mundane things such as eating & pooping, let
alone enough strength to funnel that into trying to win another battle against Depression. And actually this one is the
hardest yet, because it’s not just a battle to win, but it’s a LIFETIME of
struggle to just be ‘normal’. There’s never a winning or overcoming side,
there’s either MAINTAINING or losing. And if you slip and lose, you get sucked
right back into Depression and have to start all over again with Part 1.

So, that’s my
life in a nutshell. Riding a freaking carousal on the back of a very slippery,
slightly odd looking, plastic frog (because all the pretty unicorns are taken),
going up and down and up and down, and round and round, all the while trying
not to slide off the back and make a fool of myself. Oh the joys of living with
Depression.

Anyways. One
thing that helps me is writing, reading and re-reading my written word, and
hopefully seeing a different perspective. It’s been too long since I’ve
expressed myself, and that’s probably part of the issue with my depression
coming back around again.

I write to not
only help myself, but hopefully to help others too. I believe knowing someone
else’s struggles, faults, and/or weaknesses will maybe touch another’s life and
help them see their struggles, faults, and/or weaknesses and realize they’re
not alone. Going through depression is hard enough as it is. But going it alone
is even worse. There are people out
there that feel your pain, know your pain, and can help fix that pain. But
being silent isn’t going to help you or them, now is it?!

Thanks for
reading and seeing my struggle! I know it helped me to get it out, hopefully it’ll
help you too!

7 comments:

Hang in there Laura.....Focus, Focus, Focus on all the good in your life....new baby Easton, cute cute ornery 3 year old Dilly Bean, husband who love you, parents who love you, good health, beautiful home. Then think of all the people who are less fortunate. Finally move your thoughts over to something or someone that need you, remove the thoughts that revolve around the negatives in your life...put those on the back burner. As Scarlett O'Hara would say "I'll think about that tomorrow." Love you...Hang in there.

I have been following your blog a while... I think since you started it? I quit following a lot of the ones I was reading but I still have this one on my list! Happy to see you posting some again, but I am sorry to hear you are struggling.

I have struggled similarly. It is hard to feel happy and content. Sometimes life just plain feels like an endless marathon. I think social media makes it even more difficult because you are constantly being bombarded by the highlights of other people's lives. So I just wanted to say thank you for the honest post. It is never good that someone else is struggling but it can be helpful to know that you are not the only one! And I hope that you are able to overcome it and find a place of happiness. You deserve it!

Thanks girl! For following, reading, and sticking around! Life is just crazy right now, and in order for me to make it through the ups and downs i need to vent ya know! And social media does effect it! For sure! But I soooooo appreciate your comment!!! Thank you!

I still drop by to read what you write! It has been awhile... I just realized I haven't posted on my blog in over a year. What the hell? I didn't even know you are expecting! Congrats! Keep on pushing! What a difficult struggle.

Listen dude. I know you are possible right in the middle of birthing a child...like literally...so you may not read this for awhile. However, I have a family member that is really struggling with depression right now...and so I am going to have her read this post. So your words can make a difference. Can't wait to meet your baby on facebook! xoxo

About Me

I'm 35. Holy shit.....I'm thirty-FIVE. Wasn't it just yesterday I was living the dreamy life of a 21 year old college student, staying up late, mowing down a big ass pizza and chasing it with a 12-pack????
Now I live a slightly different dreamy life, with a wonderful husband, a 2 year old (going on 17) daughter Dillyn, a 9 (yes NINE) year old puppy named Wyatt, and the most badass job on the planet of being a work-at-home Mommy, and a Professional Photographer.
I started this journey on Jan 18th, 2011 to because physically healthier. It grew from there. And now I'm finally ready to get back to not only the physical part, but more the mental part.
I will look at life in a more beautiful way, I will *try* to stay active, and I will continually work on my mental health!
(All while still eating 'some' pizza and definitely drinking 'some' beer!!!)